Engineering on retainer.
Without the headcount.
Fractional engineering gives your business a senior engineer who builds and runs your systems on a monthly retainer, with direct access and fixed prices, for less than the cost of hiring in-house.
What fractional engineering means.
Fractional engineering is senior engineering capability shared with a small number of businesses instead of employed by one. You get the same engineer every month, accountable for your infrastructure, website, data, and automations, at a fraction of what that person would cost on payroll.
The model mirrors the fractional CFO or CMO: proven senior expertise, embedded in your operations, without recruitment, employer taxes, tooling, or management overhead. It fits established businesses whose systems matter commercially but do not justify a full-time engineering hire.
At BespokeForge, fractional never means anonymous or part-attention. A maximum of three clients are taken on at a time, and the engineer who scopes your systems is the engineer who builds and runs them.
How it works at BespokeForge.
One engineer, four disciplines
Infrastructure, web, data, and automation handled as one connected system, by the same senior engineer, to one standard.
Retainer, not tickets
Operate retainers cover monitoring, maintenance, incident response, and ongoing development. You are buying accountability, not a queue position.
Fixed prices, direct access
Every engagement is priced before work begins, and you speak directly to the engineer. No account managers, no juniors, no surprises.
Where it sits against the other options.
A senior engineer in Europe typically costs in the region of €6,000 to €9,000 a month, in one discipline. Fractional gives you senior coverage across four for less.
Agencies put account managers and rotating juniors between you and the work. Fractional engineering gives you the senior directly.
Freelancers bring one skill and move on when the project ends. Fractional engineering stays, and covers the whole system.
Systems left unowned decay quietly: slowdowns, security gaps, and manual work that grows. The cost arrives later, at the worst time.
What it costs.
Operate retainers run from €1,200/mo for monitoring, maintenance, and incident response, through €2,500/mo with active development hours, to €5,000/mo for a full embedded partnership. Three month minimum to reach steady state, then rolling monthly with 30 days notice.
Every engagement starts with a free 45-minute diagnostic call, and builds are scoped through a fixed-fee audit (€250), credited in full toward the work.
See how Operate worksStraight answers. No pitch.
Let's talk about your systems.
No pitch. No pressure. You describe the problem. BespokeForge tells you what is actually causing it, whether it is fixable, and whether BespokeForge is the right fit to fix it and stay to operate it.
45 minutes. Google Meet. Straight answers.
You receive a calendar link. Pick a slot that suits you, no chasing.
Bring a description of the problem. No deck needed. Notes on a napkin is fine.
You leave knowing what's actually broken and whether BespokeForge is the right fit to fix it.